Squeezed

WITH the hard job of politicking now over, last night’s winning party now faces the even harder – and at times – impossible job of governing.

There are promises to keep and slogans to adapt into policy – all with the realization that there are substantially no new monies with which to do it all.

One of the bigger elephants in the room no party or government has fully acknowledged is Generation Squeeze, defined as the younger generation of people in their 30s and 40s hemmed in by high housing, high education costs and generally high living costs precariously balanced against the task of raising families.

Generally speaking, Generation Squeeze advocates say the inevitable result is a reduced quality of life with more time by parents spent working to earn money to keep up, resulting in reduced family time, increased work absenteeism and the like.

All of that has a social as well as a monetary cost to those families and to society as a whole.

It would be incorrect to say society or any government can fix the situation.

But Generation Squeeze advocates point out, for example, that programs to properly prepare children for school would reduce the numbers requiring specific attention and help later on. In turn this would lower overall educations costs, allowing schools to do more.

Seems like a reasonable premise we could all support.

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